Done!

Well, I have finished the travelling pattern ,and I have to say that I loved every single stitch , it really is a lovely chart to stitch ,very relaxed and fun .

  I used the recommended DMC threads and a piece of 28 ct fabric from my stash .
 So ,the travelling pattern is now ready to set off again . If you are interested in being the nest person to stitch this chart , please leave a comment on this post only , I will announce who it will be in just over a week , with the holidays being upon us, I'll give people a chance to reply.

 We have had some lovely weather this week , just hope it stays around for a while. Yesterday , whilst pegging washing out, I took advantage of the lovely sky and took some great cloud pics ,it didn't look real, but made the sky look so vast , it was almost breath taking .

  I also took some photos of the chooks . I won't put all of them on here ,so here is one of all the girls together .

 Thanks for dropping by , don't forget to leave a comment to be in with a chance of getting the travelling pattern.
 Take care ,
 Cath

A few ruffled feathers.

No stitching to show at the moment ,it's been too hot for me. I like good weather , but not hot weather and tend to hibernate indoors ,lol . I've been reading and wasting time on the computer rather than doing anything useful .
 One day last week , we went out for most of the day. Walked down the trail , took a picnic and had a coffee at the visitors' centre .
 It was nice , and though I took the camera , I only got a few photos taken .

 These are of the broom plants in my garden . The cream/yellow one always blooms a couple of weeks before the red/orange one . They look lovely , but the yellow one stinks ,lol .

 The cats have struggled with the heat too .

 Frasers' new home .

 The big news , is on Saturday , we got some new chooks .
  So , welcome :  Rosella ,

 Phoebe ,

 And Mrs Proudy

  They are lovely ,and getting used to us already.

  There have been a few tussles , to re-establish the pecking order , in fact they had only been in the coop less than a minute when Phoebe was bleeding, nothing serious and it's healed up already .

  Blossom and Ollie are not totally impressed , but overall we are not worried . The new girls are going in the coop to roost and eating and drinking well , so pretty good progress really.

 Happy chook days . :-D

 Thanks for dropping by ,
 Cath

SPRING ?????

Would someone please pass on the meaning of the word to Mother Nature ?

This is what we got up to this morning.

Not sure what time it started , but it was coming strong at 2 am when I got up to my son , and it didn't stop until way after lunch time .

Now ,it is thawing a bit , but it is very cold , so hoping it doesn't freeze as the road conditions were pretty bad today. The netting on top of the chicken run was so heavy with wet snow , it has pulled one of the posts down , and there was a cable down at the end of the street when we went out earlier on.

A sad day for us ,as one of the chickens died this morning. Poor little Bossy was unwell yesterday afternoon , and with the turn in the weather she didn't make it. One thing about chooks , once they get ill, they don't tend to last very long. So we have a sad little boy today as she was his chook , but we will hopefully get a couple more later in the year , when it really is spring , lol.

Cath

Chickens and other animals.

Just thought I'd show a few squares .

I finished my last chicken for the cushions. I did find some suitable gingham fabric on e-bay , but haven't bought any yet , more about that later.

We are doing a special request quilt at SFC, the theme being Old McDonald's' Farm , so I've also stitched a few for that.

Another chicken

Goose Cat and ,mouse

We are also doing a Disney themed quilt, so I stitched Dumbo. This is a chart from an old cover kit from a mag, still cute.

Today I've been busy with the sewing machine, did a few other bits and bobs , and made up this bag for a friend. She wants to attach some stitched squares so I've left one side open until that is done ,then it will be finished off. Other news , we have been worried for a while about the state of my husbands job, and heard last week that the company he works for has been bought out by a competitor. At the moment ,we still don't know where we stand, so as you can imagine , my stitching and blogging mojo has been a bit haywire to say the least . So , no new stash for a while either until we know what's what. While we don't need new cushions ,we do need to eat ,so the fabby will have to wait , lol.

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

Still here

Hi folks , I know I have been neglecting my blog of late ,the truth is , not done much stitching either .

We have had a couple of big stress factors since the end of February which seem to have infected everything at the moment , so my mojo for most things is pretty low.

Add that to the extra long holidays the kids seem to have had from school , and everything has gone to pot. With Easter being late , inset days and extra bank holidays added on, they were off for three weeks , and they're only back at school for three weeks before half term.

Anyway , I was one of the lucky people who received an gorgeous lavender bunny from Nia.

Thanks again Nia , I love it and have it on the shelf next to my seat .X

I have done a bit of stitching. Three chickens from Cross Stitcher issue 229 (before they changed it). They will be joined by a fourth (eventually) and hopefully turned into a couple of cushions.

I'm hoping to find some gingham's in black and red to make them up . Work on the fourth chicken is slow , but hopefully things will improve soon.

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

Stitching and Chickens .

Quick update on the new girls , two of them laid yesterday , which was a big surprise .

Theirs are the two eggs in the middle . they are a bit smaller than the others at the moment , but the girls still have to grow to full size .

Thought I'd better show some stitching too , lol. I mentioned a couple of things I was doing for the kids ,well here they are . Two Pikachu (s) .

Mu niece has downloaded some of the original Pokemon cartoons to her laptop , and they were all watching them couple of weeks ago. My 4 yr old, and 6 yr old , and 15yr old niece , lol . They were totally glued to the screen. Anyway , my two like Pikachu best so I got a couple of charts and stitched them up. They need to be finished off , with some felt at the back or something , but the kids like them.

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

New Girls on the Block .

I'm very excited . The weather here has been lovely ,so after taking the kids to a birthday party this morning (11-1) , and having some lunch ,we went out and got some more chooks.

I've been after some more for a while now , as the garden seemed empty with just two , but we had to wait for the right time .

So ,we've got two Light Sussex hybrids and a Black Rock hybrid , and they are lovely .

This is BlossomBossy IIAnd OllieHessy and Bessie are not too impressed right now . Bessy has had to assert herself as the boss so has fluffed up and jumped on the new girls a bit , but it soon settled down . Hessy isn't too bothered , she just likes a quiet life , but she sided with Bessie when Blossom stood her ground , so I think they will soon establish the new pecking order . So , I am a very happy bunny. The new girls aren't laying yet , so they have time to get settled into their new home , and I get to watch them when I'm doing the pots . See , there are silver linings ,lol.

Thanks for dropping by ,

Cath

Updates

Hi everyone. Well ,we had a busy weekend again . I've got so many photos from our trips out over the last couple of weeks , I could probably have enough posts to last for a couple of months ,lol .

Just wanted to show where I am with Chicken Run as of now . It's coming on quite well despite not getting much chance to work on it last week .

As you can see, I've done the back stitch on the top half . I didn't fancy tackling it all at the end as it's not my favourite part of stitching , but I have to say it really has made a difference to the picture .

And , I know everyone will be itching to see more pics of the kittens. They have settled in really well , are totally litter trained and are eating loads . they love to curl up on my lap or on my V cushion , which is where they are at the moment , but they are also fighting a lot too . I think they're trying to figure out who the boss is , they are yet to learn that it is me ,lol .

Fraser

FinleySnugglesAlso , I'm sure I forgot to post pics of this before . I stitched it a few months ago , and it has now gone to Aunty Jane to be put on one of the kids quilts.Well ,that's it for now . Don't forget to enter my bloggy birthday giveaway on the previous post . You've got until 30th August.

Thanks for dropping by,

Cath

GOS challenge ,Orts and Eggs

Over at The Gift of Stitching , they are hosting a regular challenge where they provide a chart for you to stitch and make up your own way. All you then need to do is post pics on your blog , send them the details and you're entered in the draw for a great prize . I discovered this very close to the deadline for the second one, so didn't get to do it , but I've decided to join in this time. Go to http://giftofstitching.blogspot.com/for full details.

This time , the chart is of a Too Big bird on a house , really cute. I made mine into this little beaded fobThis side is with the threads as recommended on the chart , and this side I've done with vari threads ( you have a lot to answer for Shellie , lol) . So , this is my entry . If you're interested in joining in , the deadline is 11th February. I made this in a day , so still plenty of time.

So , onto the orts . I've done a bit of stitching since last time , mostly the vari stuff , so lots of bits and bobs in the pot now.

Lastly, the eggs . Our chooks have a habit of laying very different sized (and coloured) eggs , to say they're all supposedly the same breed,age etc. We are used to seeing regular , large and wincing sizes , but I got a real surprise yesterday . I went to check the coop , and found a mini egg in there. The middle one is a regular size , the one on the left fairly large , and then we get this tiny one. It's so cute.

We had a sprinkling of snow again last night , so the chooks have been eating it again this morning. Porridge for them later to help them keep warm.

Thanks everyone for the comments , and thanks for dropping by.

Take care , Cath

SNOW

We had quite a bit of snow over the weekend . I'm not too keen on the stuff now I'm older, I just want to fill the house with food and hibernate until it's gone. Not sure if it's because I'm an "adult" or because I'm a Mum , but when the weather closes in , so do I.

This is what it was like on Sunday

So ,yesterday morning , me and the kids went out and did thisTo the great interest of the chickens lolThis is their first experience of snow , but they haven't been fazed by it at all. They just hop about a bit more as it's cold to their feet , but a bit of porridge in the afternoon seems to help them cope.

After making the snowman and getting the kids inside to warm up , I went and cleared the drive , and this is the view from out front

It may or may not look like it now , as we've got freezing fog at the moment ,so can't see much beyond the hedge over the road. Today , we're staying in.

Thanks for dropping by , hopefully I'll have a last stitchy post before Christmas X Cath